UN Security Council urges security assistance to Libya, Sahel region in fight against terrorism

The UN Security Council on Tuesday called on the international community to provide Libya and its neighbors in Africa's Sahel region with security assistance in the struggle against Al-Qaida linked terrorist groups.

In a presidential statement released here, the 15-nation council said Libya remains a safe haven for terrorist groups operating in the Sahel region and expressed its "deep concern" that unsecured arms and their proliferation through transfer to terrorist groups have posed a threat to stability in the region.

The most powerful UN body urged member states of the Sahel region, West Africa and the Maghreb to coordinate their efforts to prevent the terrorist groups crossing borders and seeking safe havens in the Sahel region, which is a zone of transition in Africa between the Sahara Desert to the north and the Sudanian Savanna to the south.

It also calls for cooperation to prevent the expansion of terrorist groups as well as to limit the proliferation of all arms and transnational organized crime.

Libya has been witnessing a frayed political process after fall of its former leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011. The country is now suffering a political crisis, which forced the neighboring Sahel region to weather most of its fallouts, including influx of refugees, weapon smuggling and terrorist groups' development.

According to a UN report, the security situation in the Sahel remains volatile. Of particular concern are the situations in Libya and Mali, and the terrorist threat posed by Boko Haram and other terrorist groups.

Statistics show that the activities of the Nigeria-based Boko Haram has displaced more than 2.5 million people, including an estimated 1.4 million children and 200,000 refugees in Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Endit